(helps the medicine go down)

Chocolate Pumpkin Pie

Last weekend I spent the weekend visiting my friend in Philly and eating lots of delicious food (and shopping…). Philly has an amazing food and cocktail scene and I probably arrived home about 5 pounds heavier! While everything was delicious, my favorite meal was at Vernick Food and Drink near Rittenhouse Square. The meal started with the perfect amuse-bouche: a tiny cup of the most delicious sweet potato soup I have ever tasted. I would have been satisfied just eating an entire bowl of it for my dinner! But then I never would have tried the toast with fromage blanc, the striped jack and avocado crudo, the parmesan custard, the black-pepper glazed octopus, the tagliatelle with duck ragout and last but not least, the amazing chocolate pumpkin pie dessert!

Their chocolate pumpkin pie was a rich, creamy dark chocolate pie with strong pumpkin spice flavors. Served warm as a small individual pie (enough for 2 or 3…or 1 🙂 ) it was the perfect end to an outstanding meal. As soon as I had my first bite of the pie, I knew I had to try to recreate it at home.

I had recently seen a recipe in the November issue of Bon Appetit for a Pumpkin Caramel Tart and decided to modify it to try to recreate the Vernick Chocolate Pumpkin Pie. Instead of making the caramel as the recipe calls for, I made a dark chocolate ganache and substituted this for the caramel in the recipe. I altered the spices and then poured the filling into a simple butter pie crust, laced with more spices.

The final product was pretty good but definitely paled in comparison to the Vernick version. The chocolate overpowered the pumpkin quite a bit so I’m planning on increasing the amount of spices I use in my next test run (or maybe adding ground cloves or all-spice). I was also unhappy with the crust and plan to substitute for a graham cracker or gingersnap crust next time. Any volunteers to taste test?

For the crust: Mix flour, sugar, salt, and spices in processor. Add butter; pulse until coarse meal forms. Gradually blend in enough ice water to form moist clumps. Gather dough into ball; divide in half. Form dough into 2 balls; flatten into disks. Wrap each in plastic; chill 2 hours or overnight.

Preheat over to 350 degrees. Roll crust out on a floured surface into a 12-14 inch circle. Fit into a 9 inch pie pan and crimp the edges. Line crust with parchment paper and fill with pie weights, dried beans or rice. Bake for 15 minutes. Remove parchment paper and pie weights and bake for 5 more minutes until set. Allow to cool.

For the filling: Scald the cream over medium heat in a small saucepan until bubbles just start to form. Pour over the dark chocolate in a medium heat resistant bowl. Allow to stand for about a minute and then whisk chocolate and cream together until smooth to make a ganache.

Mix pumpkin puree, brown sugar, granulated sugar, flour, spices and salt together in a large mixing bowl. Slowly mix in the chocolate ganache. Add the eggs one at a time, mixing completely in between each addition until smooth.

Pour filling into prepared pie shell. Bake at 350 degrees for 40-45 minutes until edges are set and center barely jiggles. Cool on a wire rack. Serve cold or at room temperature. Top with whipped cream if desired.

I am a daughter of a mighty and compassionate God. He is the God of gods and Lord of lords, mighty and awesome, He is my refuge. I am the bride of my considerate, ever-understanding, and oh so breath taking husband. I am a mother to our three sweet, rambunctiously giggly and happy children, they are my everything. I am also a 36-year old woman who is about to take on cancer! This is our story.